La reine des neiges

In the late 1800s the daughter (Chelsea Hobbs) of a hotel owner in a town in the Great Northwest becomes enamored with the bellboy, Kai (Jeremy Guilbaut). When an icy-but-beautiful woman known as the Snow Queen (Bridget Fonda) whisks him away, Gerda (Hobbs) seeks to find him & free him after she amazingly enters the parallel realm of the Snow Queen. But, first, she has to struggle through Spring, Summer and Autumn and the challenges thereof.

"Snow Queen" (2002) is a Hallmark production that runs 12 minutes shy of 3 hours and was based on the original fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, which was first published in two parts in 1844-1845. Elements from another folktale about the four seasons were mixed into the brew.

This is an Americanized version of the fairy tale with the events taking place somewhere out West in the USA or Canada, both of which are (North) America. The film was shot in British Columbia and takes place there or anywhere in the Great Northwest in the late 1800s (or early 1900s). It definitely doesn't take place in Denmark since (1) there are snowcapped mountains in the background and (2) everyone speaks English. I suppose someone could argue that it takes place in either Norway or Sweden, but that doesn't resolve the English-speaking issue (unless you simply imagine the characters speaking a Scandinavian language).

The long movie's worth catching just to see Bridget in her last role before marrying notable composer Danny Elfman and starting a family. Hobbs doesn't personally trip my trigger, but she's a'right. Guilbaut is bland, but serviceable. The movie comes alive whenever Fonda is present.

Most of the first half is rooted in reality and is quite good for a TV production, but the mid-section focuses on Gerda's misadventures journeying through Spring, Summer and Autumn while Kai is captive in the Snow Queen's stronghold on top of a mountain guarded by a talking polar bear. The entire middle of the picture cuts back-and-forth between these two stories with a few sequences in reality thrown in for good measure, the latter involving the father at the hotel (Robert Wisden) and his cook, Minna (Wanda Cannon).

In Gerda's quest the characters come-and-go like a rollercoaster ride. It's reminiscent of the Neverland sequences in "Hook" (1991). If you like fairy tales like "Snow White and the Huntsman" (2012) or episodic fantasies like "The Odyssey" (1997), "Ulysses" (1954) and "The Lords of the Rings" trilogy (2001-2003) give this a look; just remember it was made on a TV budget and there's not a lot of swashbuckling, as with those other productions.

The film runs 2 hour, 48 minutes and was shot entirely in British Columbia (Cranbrook, Fort Steele & Vancouver).

GRADE: C+/B-

Okay, I really dont care what most of you are saying, because you all are soooo much into details. But my personal opinion is that this is one of the best movies I have EVER seen. Its not got poor casting-I couldnt see anyone else playing some of those parts! Even though there are old versions of the movie, and a book. I like this version AND its characters. This is by far one of my favorite movies. =)

So this review is probably a year away from its start date but I just saw it on video and feel compelled to say something.

The story was awesome, the movie definitely dragged. Bridget Fonda did look good as the snow queen but her acting is off a bit, someone may want to remind her this is a hallmark movie she's in.

Gerda and Kai were cute. The made a cute couple.

Visually, everything was beautiful. The landscape, the snow, the snow queen - everything.

Now I have to read the book again....

My main attraction was that I absolutely love the original Snow Queen story and always have done, for me it is one of Hans Christian Andersen's best stories. So naturally I would see any adaptation of it, regardless of the company or who was in it. I was a little dubious though as for me Hallmark's output have been a very mixed bag. The good news is that while it is miles away from being perfect Snow Queen is really quite decent and one of Hallmark's better efforts.

It does have a number of good things. The best asset is by far the visuals. The scenery, settings and lighting look absolutely stunning, easily one of Hallmark's best-looking movies, and the Snow Queen's costumes and make-up are an absolute knockout. The cinematography is basic and maybe some of the slow-motion shots get too much and unnecessary, but on the most part it is focused and fluid. The music score is very good also, it has the sparkling motifs that you'd associate with a fantasy score, the darker moments have a haunting musical undercurrent and it does all this without ever sounding generic.

Snow Queen's lead performance I did think were quite good. The acting honours do go to Bridget Fonda who I think is wonderful as the Snow Queen. She looks breathtakingly beautiful, and while she is cold and icy at points she also has a humane side which she delivers with a surprising amount of pathos. Jeremy Guilbaut showed a lot of potential as Kai, he does bring genuine character and natural intensity to him proving that he is more than just a pretty face. Chelsea Hobbs is a little bland to start with, but I didn't worry too much actually as it fitted with the "character going on a journey"(literally and in character development) and later on she is easier to warm to.

Oh and before I forget, I was surprised by how good the special effects were, the reindeer and the polar bear looked great. Snow Queen began and ended well, the darker moments providing a lot of promise for the telling of such a timeless story.

Unfortunately, for all the good things that Snow Queen it does also have debits. The rest of the acting is uneven though with one exception nobody is exactly bad. That exception though is Kira Clavell's Summer Princess, who acts and sounds like she is participating in a high-school production. But the main problems are the script, the pacing and the story. The script once the darkness shifts dissolves into anachronism and modern vernacular, which against the production values proved to be quite a stilted mismatch.

At this point as well, the pacing does get tedious and save for some inspired moments never really picks up- some of the action sequences like with the Summer Princess' minions and the Autumn robbers are quite nifty though-, which is a shame considering how promising the beginning and end proved to be. The story showed a lot of potential and I personally did find Gerda and Kai's love for one another and together convincing, which took a nosedive in the tone shift. For a programme of this length, I was disappointed at how forced the Autumn scenes seemed to be and by how certain events were introduced but never explained satisfactorily and consequently coming across as confused instead.

So in summing up, Snow Queen was decent and watchable with the art direction being the best thing about it, but there were a number of things that stopped it from being great. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Hallmark wowed me with Gulliver's Travels back in the day. Even the remake of Snow White, while kind of freakish, but beautiful with Kristin Kreuk in it was a helluva lot better than this lumbering hulk of garbage.

That said, please understand that I am a loyalist, and The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid were my two favorite fairy tales of all time (you could say that Hans Christen Anderson was my first favorite author- I even liked Danny Kaye as Hans in the movie). I disliked the fact that Gerda and Kay(Kai) were so much older, and their little flirtation with romance, it felt heavy handed and false. There's no way that just after a couple of months and one kiss Gerda would chase off after Kay. Even with his silly Help Me note.

That said, I think that the bits with Kay and the Snow Queen could have been considerably edited down, and more time spent with Gerda on her travels. I am not sure about the poster who said that there was no robber girl, but there was. I do know that the travelling thru the seasons was added because of the whole "the mirror is the devils creation and he gave it to the seasons..." bs storyline. Which, of course, is utter tripe.

As far as being beautifully shot; sure, if you like white. Everything frm the frozen land looked as if it had been sprayed with canned snow, nothing really looked good. I didn't really like what they did to the snow queen; all in all, it was a complete disappointment to me. ESP the fact that I rented it and didn't think to remember that since it was hallmark it was probably a freaking miniseries or at least a two part movie. Christ I have been sitting in front of the tv for close to four hours!

Two thumbs down, and a very bad rating. The acting is horrible, and the only thing I truly liked was the clothes.